The Coffee Shop (Hamilton Lams Modern AU) **IN EDITING**

Chapter 13

Alexander's POV

1 Hour Later

I finally made it to John's apartment after what felt like forever of running through the rain. I was freezing cold, not to mention exhausted. I knocked on the apartment door, still trying to catch my breath. Someone opened the door, and since I'd been leaning on it, I nearly fell face-first onto the floor. "Whoa, you okay, Alex?" John asked, helping me up. "Y-yeah.." I mumbled, shivering a bit. "Alex, you're soaked! Did you seriously run all the way here?" I nodded a little, taking off my shoes and stepping inside.

~

After quickly drying off and changing, all I wanted to do was sleep. I was in the living room watching TV, and John was searching for something in the cupboards. "What're you looking for...?" I asked him sleepily. "The thermometer," he replied. "I need to see if you have a fever." I nodded and curled up on the couch. "How come you didn't wanna go back to your place, Alex?" Do I have to tell him? What am I thinking? Of course I do! He told me his story, so I guess he should know mine, I thought. "I-it's a long story..." I mumbled. "We have time," he told me. "Well, okay. So, in my apartment building, all the windows are paper thin, making even the smallest drizzle sound like a hurricane. Thunderstorms are even worse, as those sound like baseball-sized chunks of hail hitting the windows. I hate any sort of rain storm because-.." I cut myself off to take a deep breath. "-because of a hurricane that hit a few years back," I explained. "Do I have to finish the story?" I asked. "No, not if it makes you uncomfortable, but you got me hooked on this story, Alex," he replied. "So, imagine this: you're an orphan who's been separated from your older brother. You've been from family to family in the foster care system, but you finally think you've found the perfect place for you to stay. Everything is going well when a hurricane hits. Of course, living in the Caribbean, you've faced hurricanes before, so you didn't think much of it. But, not even a day in, high winds and heavy rainfall start to cause mass destruction all over town. One of your foster parents goes out into the storm, but never returns. You go out with your family members to find him, when you get separated from them. The storm clears after around three days, but you're, once again, alone. So, you go ahead to write a letter to the one other family member you have, your dad. When you finish writing, you go to one of your neighbors so they can read it over, and they tell you that your work is amazing. They publish it and suddenly you have total strangers coming to help pay for plane tickets to NYC. You're lucky enough to get a scholarship, and here you are today." I was slightly out of breath and I felt like crying, but at least I'd gotten it off my chest. "That went from one to a hundred very quickly," John commented. "Alex, you know you can just stay here, right? There's no need for you to stay at your apartment. I wouldn't mind y- Alex? Are you okay?" he asked. I was crying, as I'd gotten vivid flashbacks to the hurricane. John came and sat down next to me. I hugged him tightly, trying to push everything out of my head. I felt something in my ear and automatically pushed it away, pulling away from the hug as I did so. "Alex, what are you doing? I'm trying to test your temperature," he explained. Right, I have some sort of cold, I thought. I'd forgotten everything about being sick when I was telling my story. I let him take my temperature, hoping that it wasn't anything bad. "Alex, you should stay home tomorrow, okay?" he told me. "Why? Is it that bad?" I asked. He showed me the thermometer, pointing to the temperature. 101.3, it's not that bad, I thought. "I'll be fine by tomorrow," I assured him. "Okay then, we'll see how you feel in the morning, and if it's the same or worse, you're staying home, okay?" I nodded a little (even though that made my head hurt for some reason). I curled up on the couch, noticing that John was laying down next to me with his arm around me. On second thought, staying home doesn't seem too bad.